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Pathological angiogenesis (PA) contributes to various ocular diseases, including age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, and retinopathy of prematurity, which are major causes of blindness over the world. Current treatments focus on anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) therapy, but persistent avascular retina, recurrent intravitreal neovascularization, and general adverse effects are reported. We have previously found that recombinant thrombomodulin domain 1 (rTMD1) can suppress vascular inflammation. However, the function of rTMD1 in VEGF-induced PA remains unknown. In this study, we found that rTMD1 inhibited VEGF-induced angiogenesis in vitro. In an oxygen induced retinopathy (OIR) animal model, rTMD1 treatment significantly decreased retinal neovascularization but spared normal physiological vessel growth. Furthermore, loss of TMD1 significantly promoted PA in OIR. Meanwhile, hypoxia-inducible factor-1α, the transcription factor that upregulates VEGF, was suppressed after rTMD1 treatment. The levels of interleukin-6, and intercellular adhesion molecule-1 were also significantly suppressed. In conclusion, our results indicate that rTMD1 not only has dual effects to suppress PA and inflammation in OIR, but also can be a potential HIF-1α inhibitor for clinical use. These data bring forth the possibility of rTMD1 as a novel therapeutic agent for PA.

Periodic circuit analog absorbers (PCAAs) are widely used to reduce electromagnetic (EM) scattering fields in various applications. Their performances are sensitive to various geometric parameters. Thus, the stability and sensitivity of the EM absorbing characteristics of PCAAs during a fabrication discrepancy due to the manufacturing uncertainty were investigated. These discrepancies are large in terms of the wavelengths at high frequencies. This article considered randomly produced nonuniform thicknesses of a conductive ink to fabricate the array structure of a PCAA and its two sandwiching dielectric substrate layers on both sides. To examine the discrepancies in fabrication, the thicknesses of the conductive ink were generated from random numbers with a desired mean value and a reasonable standard deviation of the normal distribution. To indicate the EM-field absorbing capability, we studied characteristics, such as S -parameters (reflection and transmission coefficients) and the resulting power efficiency, using numerical high frequency structure simulator (HFSS) full-wave simulations at a frequency band of 10 GHz. They were further validated by conducting experiments on prototype samples. We observed that the resonant frequencies were considerably affected by the thickness of the conductive ink in the PCAA structures. A fabrication accuracy of less than ${10^{ - 4}}\lambda $ was required to attain a stable performance.

In this letter, a three-dimensionally printed one-sixteenth fractional spherical homogeneous dielectric lens antenna on a metallic corner reflector is designed. This lens antenna is fed by an open-ended rectangular waveguide for high-gain radiation. The main design concept is to produce an equivalent spherical dielectric lens that is excited by multiple virtual sources arising from the multiple images of the original feed by the corner reflector's walls. Thus, the antenna can retain a compact size with a sufficiently effective aperture to produce a higher radiation gain. In particular, a ray-tracing method of geometrical optics is introduced for easily determining the proper sizes of the corner reflector's walls, which leads the proposed work to be more efficient than using a full-wave simulation. The superiority of the antenna is validated by examining a practical design for a radar system at 9 GHz band. It is found that the optimum dielectric constant (ϵ r ), ground plane size, and effective aperture area, relatively speaking, depend on the radius of the lens's sphere. This proposed antenna well suits multifeed satellite communication antennas, radar, and other high-gain antennas applications.

A two-dimensional (2-D) discrete dielectric lens antenna is designed to radiate fan-shaped multi-beam patterns for gain stability in beam switching. The target is to minimize adjacent-beam overlapping transition regions and provide sufficient and similar gains for all field angles when the antenna is employed in a mobile device. This design starts with a conventional 2-D Luneburg lens antenna, and distorts its dielectric permittivity and the sizes of discrete dielectric rings to defocus the pencil beam patterns into shaped ones with a relatively flat pattern for uniform field distribution. The design is realistically implemented at 38 GHz with both simulation and measurement results shown to validate the concept. Successful validation of feasibility in beam synthesis is achieved. Fabrication discrepancy to result in slight radiation degradation is also discussed.

This paper presents a design of periodic circuit analog absorbers (PCAAs) for electromagnetic (EM) scattering fields reduction. The performance sensitivities to the geometric parameters in fabrications are examined to estimate the manufacturing uncertainty. We consider randomly nonuniform thicknesses of a conductive ink and the two sandwiching dielectric substrate layers on both sides to fabricate PCAAs. The EM absorbing capability is studied on the S-parameters (the reflection and transmission coefficients) and the resulting power efficiency, using numerical HFSS full-wave simulations at a frequency band of 10 GHz. Experiments on prototype samples are also conducted. They showed that a fabrication accuracy of better than $10^{-4}\lambda$ is required to assure a stable performance.

AlGaN/GaN Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs) combined with a dual anode metal (ohmic and Schottky contacts) and a p-GaN layer were studied for improving the reverse breakdown voltage (VBR) and reducing the turn-on voltage (VON). Structures with various distances of p-GaN layer (LG) were investigated using the current-voltage (I–V), reverse recovery time, and voltage stress characteristics. The SBDs fabricated with LG = 3 µm realized a lower RON of 4.26 mΩ-cm2 and lower VON of 0.10 V compared with the SBDs fabricated with LG = 5 and 8 µm as well as the standard device. Moreover, the VBR of the SBDs with LG = 3, 5, and 8 µm was − 606, − 679, and − 713 V, respectively. The results indicated that the SBDs combined with a dual anode metal and a p-GaN layer have significantly improved VBR than does of standard device. The reverse recovery time and reverse recovery charge of the SBD combined with a dual anode metal and a p-GaN layer design decreased due to the low noise and traps from the p-n junction.

In this paper, a multi-shell spherical dielectric lens antenna is synthesized to radiate multi-beams with optimum shaped patterns for radio coverage at millimeter wave (mmW) frequencies. In particular, the design considers the composing characteristics of discrete multi-shell Luneburg lens antenna as an initial structure, and synthesizes its permittivity and sizes of dielectric shells to produce relatively shaped main beam patterns rather than conventional pencil-shapes. It targets to minimize inter-beam overlapping transition regions with slowly varying power density in the coverage boundary, and therefore reduce the ping-pong effect of inter-sector handovers to potentially minimize the inter-cell interferences arising from the over-large gain of pencil beam when the user equipment (UE) is at near the sector boundary far-off the beam peak. After the synthesis, the antenna is implemented at 38 GHz with both numerical simulation and measurement results shown to validate the concept. Successfully validation on the feasibility of beam synthesis in comparison to that of Luneburg lens antennas has been achieved. Discrepancy in fabrication to potentially result in slight radiation degradation is also discussed.

A normally-OFF p-GaN gate AlGaN/GaN high-electron-mobility transistor with high ON-state resistance ( ${R}_{ \mathrm{\scriptscriptstyle ON}}$ ) uniformity was realized using a self-terminated digital etching technique. ${R}_{ \mathrm{\scriptscriptstyle ON}}$ uniformity control was improved by simultaneously using an AlN etching stop layer in an epitaxial design and a novel digital etching procedure. Digital etching includes the multiple-cycle oxidation and the wet etching of p-GaN layers and provides easy control of p-GaN removal depth and surface damage reduction at the gate-to-drain and gate-to-source spacing areas. Low-frequency noise and pulse measurements indicated that device surface traps and current collapse phenomena were suppressed.

We investigated the temporal changes in major eye injuries in Taiwan by reviewing the medical records of all patients with ocular trauma hospitalized at the National Cheng Kung University Hospital during 2002–2004 and 2012–2014. A total of 169 eyes (161 patients) during 2002–2004 and 121 eyes (120 patients) during 2012–2014 were enrolled (mean ± SD age: 41.9 ± 20.8 years in 2002–2004, and 51.8 ± 19.3 years in 2012–2014). Males accounted for ~75% of patients. The most frequent injury-causing object was metallic material (~24%), and blunt traumas were most frequently attributable to traffic accidents and falls. The most common locations of injuries for males and females were the workplace and home, respectively. Open-globe injuries occurred in ~70% of eyes, requiring primary repair, cataract extraction, and/or intraocular lens implantation. The frequencies of fall injury, lacrimal system laceration, lens injury, corneal/scleral foreign bodies, and use of intracameral antibiotics increased from 2002–2004 to 2012–2014, while those of closed-globe injury, vitreous haemorrhage, optic nerve injury, and medical treatment decreased. The final visual acuity remained poor (≤20/200) in >1/3 of injured eyes. Despite therapeutic advancements, major eye injuries still pose a high risk for poor visual outcome.

This study investigated the “real-world” use of ranibizumab for neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) in Taiwan and assessed the visual outcome. We reviewed the medical records at National Cheng Kung University Hospital, Taiwan, during 2012–2014 for 264 consecutive eyes of 229 patients with nAMD, who applied for ranibizumab covered by national health insurance. A total of 194 eyes (73.5%) in 179 patients (65.5% men; mean ± standard deviation age 69.4 ± 10.7 years) were pre-approved for treatment. Applications for treatment increased year by year, but approval rates decreased during this time. The major causes of rejection for funding were diseases mimicking nAMD, including macular pucker/epiretinal membrane, macular scarring, dry-type AMD, and possible polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy. After completion of three injections in 147 eyes, visual acuity significantly improved, gaining ≥1 line in 51.8% of eyes and stabilising in 38.3% of 141 eyes in which visual acuity was measured. The 114 eyes approved with only one application had a better visual outcome than the 27 eyes approved after the second or third applications. In conclusion, ranibizumab is effective for nAMD; however, approval after the second or third application for national health insurance cover is a less favourable predictor of visual outcome.

In this paper, a novel normally off p-gallium nitride (GaN) gate high electron-mobility transistor (HEMT) with composite AlN/Al0.17Ga0.83N/Al0.3Ga0.7N barrier layers is proposed. Compared to the standard (STD) p-GaN/AlGaN/GaN HEMT structure, the composite barriers (CB) with AlN etchstop layer can effectively improve the uniformity of the device threshold voltage (VTH) and reduce the leakage current. The CB p-GaN gate HEMT achieved a VTH of 1.7 ± 0.06 V; this value was 2.1 ± 0.2 V for STD HEMT. In addition, the off-state drain leakage current was suppressed one order of magnitude by adopting a composite barrier design.

Upon invasion by foreign pathogens, specific antibodies can identify specific foreign antigens and disable them. As a result of this ability, antibodies can help with vaccine production and food allergen detection in patients. Many studies have focused on predicting linear B-cell epitopes, but only two prediction tools are currently available to predict the sub-type of an epitope. NIgPred was developed as a prediction tool for IgA, IgE, and IgG. NIgPred integrates various heterologous features with machine-learning approaches. Differently from previous studies, our study considered peptide-characteristic correlation and autocorrelation features. Sixty kinds of classifier were applied to construct the best prediction model. Furthermore, the genetic algorithm and hill-climbing algorithm were used to select the most suitable features for improving the accuracy and reducing the time complexity of the training model. NIgPred was found to be superior to the currently available tools for predicting IgE epitopes and IgG epitopes on independent test sets. Moreover, NIgPred achieved a prediction accuracy of 100% for the IgG epitopes of a coronavirus data set. NIgPred is publicly available at our website.

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To protect privacy of individuals or companies that may be leaked in street view images, we present a system to automatically detect and remove cars as if they had never been there. Although street view service providers have made efforts on blurring human faces and license plates, we argue that remaining features, such as license numbers and phone numbers printed on car bodies, could cause privacy leak. Given a sequence of street view images, this system first detects cars by the deformable part model, and then determines foreground/background seeds for the GrabCut image segmentation module in order to facilitate automatic car segmentation. After removing cars, an exemplar-based inpainting method is developed with special designs on filling priority determination and road structure propagation. Hierarchical texture propagation and randomized texture propagation are integrated to implement the inpainting process, so that aesthetically pleasing inpainting results as well as privacy protection can be accomplished.

Background/PurposeRetinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is a leading cause of childhood blindness. This retrospective study investigated ROP, including incidence, demographic information,risk factors, treatments, and refractive outcomes, in southern Taiwan over a 10-year period.MethodsThe authors retrieved the National Cheng Kung University Hospital database between the years 2000 and 2009 for newborns with a gestational age less than 32 weeks and/or with a birth weight less than 1500 g who had been screened for ROP. We recorded sex, birth weight, gestational age, in-hospital versus out-of-hospital birth, paternal and maternal ages, whether there were multiple gestations, parity, Apgar scores, length of hospital stay, risk factors, presence and severity of ROP and whether it was treated, and refraction at the last visit. Regression analyses were performed to identify risk factors for ROP.ResultsA total of 503 live births were included. ROP was identified in 190 (37.8%) and met criteria for treatment in 59 (11.7%).ROP was diagnosed as stage 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 in 61 (12.1%), 36 (7.2%), 81 (16.1%), 11 (2.2%), and 1 (0.2%) infant, respectively. Lower birth weight and younger gestational age were risk factors for greater severity of ROP (p

The integration of Hive, Impala and Spark SQL platforms has achieved to perform rapid data retrieval using SQL query in big data environment. This paper is to design the optimized platform selection for highly improving the response of data retrieval. It can automatically choose the best-perform platform to best perform SQL commands. In addition, the distributed memory storage systems using Memcached and the distributed file system Hadoop HDFS have implemented the caching so that the fastest data retrieval has done once the repeated SQL command has applied.

Thyroid cancer is the most common endocrine malignancy, the global incidence rate of which is rapidly rising. Surgery and radioiodine therapies are common and effective treatments only for nonmetastasized primary tumors. Therefore, effective treatment modalities are imperative for patients with radioiodine-resistant thyroid cancer. Honokiol, a biophenolic compound derived from Magnolia spp., has been shown have diverse biological and pharmacological activities, including anti-inflammatory, antioxidative, antiangiogenic, and anticancer properties. In the present study, three human thyroid cancer cell lines, namely anaplastic, follicular, and poorly differentiated thyroid cancer cells, were used to evaluate the chemotherapeutic activity of honokiol. Cell viability, cell cycle, apoptosis, and autophagy induction were determined through flow cytometry and western blot analysis. We found that honokiol treatment can suppress cell growth, induce cell cycle arrest, and enhance the induction of caspase-dependent apoptosis and autophagy in cancer cells. Moreover, honokiol treatment modulated signaling pathways including Akt/mTOR, ERK, JNK, and p38 in the studied cells. In addition, the antitumorigenic activity of honokiol was also confirmed in vitro and in vivo. Our data provide evidence that honokiol has a unique application in chemotherapy for human thyroid cancers.

Infectious keratitis after penetrating keratoplasty (PK) is a devastating condition that may result in graft failure and poor visual outcome. In this study, we retrospectively reviewed the medical records of patients who underwent PK between 2009 and 2014, and recorded those who developed infectious keratitis. We compared the predisposing factors and organisms isolated to those identified in our previous study, conducted between 1989 and 1994. The incidence of post-PK infectious keratitis decreased from 11.6% (41 out of 354 cases, 1989–1994) to 6.5% (9 out of 138 cases, 2009–2014). Graft epithelial defect and suture-related problems remained the leading two risk factors of infectious keratitis after PK. Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial infection decreased from 58.5% and 46.3% to 11.1% and 22.2%, respectively (P = 0.023 and P = 0.271). In contrast, fungus infection increased from 9.8% to 66.7% (P = 0.001); fungi have become the major pathogen for post-PK infectious keratitis. In conclusion, while the incidence of post-PK infectious keratitis has decreased over time, the number and frequency of fungal infections have significantly increased in the recent study period. Clinicians should be aware of the shifting trend in pathogens involved in post-PK infectious keratitis.

Most solar cells are installed outdoors in order to receive as much sunlight as possible. Outdoor environment, however, is harmful to solar cells. Therefore, solar cells nowadays are well designed and able to work longer than 20 years. Besides improvements in sturdiness of solar cells, changes in structure of solar collector are also an effective way to prolong the lifespan of a solar cell. Thus, the research was aimed at the design of a solar collector that was able to transfer intensified sunlight to an indoor solar cell via a fiber bundle, so as to avoid dreadful environment. After being optimized by commercial optical software LightTools, the solar collector achieved a good efficiency, more than 20%, and had high tolerance to optical errors.

Introduction: Thyroid cancer is the most prevalent cancer among endocrine malignancies. In clinically, surgical resection combined with radioactive iodine therapy has been proved effective in treating differentiated thyroid cancer, including papillary and follicular thyroid cancers (FTC). However, patients with incurable differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC), poorly differentiated thyroid cancer (PDTC) and anaplastic thyroid cancer (ATC) exhibit worse prognosis. Therefore, a novel and effective treatment is urgently needed to deal with the current treatment. Evodiamine is one of the important components isolated from Chinese herb Wu-Chu-Yu, and has been demonstrated to contribute on anti-inflammatory effects, anti-angiogenesis, anti-tumor growth, anti-invasive and metastatic activities, and up-regulating apoptosis. In the present study, we examined the effects of evodiamine in FTC, PDTC and ATC cells, respectively. Evodiamine inhibited cellular proliferation and the colonies formation of FTC, PDTC and ATC cells. Cell cycle arrest at G2/M phase was found in all of the cells during evodiamine treatment. Moreover, caspase-dependent apoptosis in these cells was also revealed under evodiamine treatment. In addition, autophagy induction was also found in evodiamine treated human thyroid cancer cells. Finally, we verified the effects of evodiamine on anti-human thyroid cancers in a xenograft nude mice model. Our results demonstrate that evodiamine induces cell cycle arrest, caspase-dependent apoptosis and autophagy leading to inhibit proliferation of multiple types of human thyroid cancer cells. We suggest that evodiamine could be a chemo-therapeutic candidate for human thyroid cancers.

This paper presents the actual production procedure of an electromagnetic absorber by using the well-known Salisbury screens, which are distributed periodically to overcome the bonding difficulty between the upper and lower layers of the absorbing materials. In particular, the unit cell of the Salisbury screen is square with a 15 cm in side-length (5λ at the resonance frequency, 10 GHz) and 30 µm in thickness. The return loss at the resonance frequency can reach 34 dB (equivalent to more than 99.9% of EM wave absorption) with a bandwidth of 10 dB by 6 GHz. The absorber is consisted of 4 × 4 unit cells with a gap of 5mm (0.2λ) between them. The central frequency is 12 GHz, with a return loss by 27 dB (i.e., more than 99% of EM wave absorption) and a bandwidth of 10dB by 6.6 GHz.

This work proposed the normally-off gate-recessed AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) with more suitable threshold voltages by adjusting the Al mole fraction in the various AlGaN layer thickness under the gate region. It is found that the slope of threshold voltage versus Al mole fraction curves is decreased with decreasing the thickness of AlGaN layer due to the decrease of piezoelectric effect on 2DEG concentration.

Purpose To investigate the cytotoxicity of triamcinolone acetonide (TA) suspensions to corneal endothelial cells (CECs). Setting Department of Ophthalmology, Institute of Clinical Medicine, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan. Methods New Zealand white rabbit CECs were exposed for 1 minute to balanced salt solution (BSS); commercial TA suspension (cTA); vehicle-removed TA (–vTA); pure vehicle (V); 1/10 dilutions of cTA, –vTA, or V in BSS; or benzyl alcohol (BA) (cTA preservative) 9 mg/mL. Corneal endothelial cell toxicity was assessed by light microscopy (trypan blue staining) and transmission electron microscopy. The effects of 3-, 10-, or 30-minute exposures to 1/10 cTA, 1/10 –vTA, or V were also investigated. Results One-minute exposures to –vTA or 1/10 –vTA did not damage CECs; however, cTA, V, or 1/10 dilutions of cTA or V caused damage and cells exposed to BA showed severe ultrastructural damage/lysis. A 30-minute exposure to 1/10 –vTA did not cause significant cell damage, whereas 3- to 30-minute exposures to 1/10 cTA or V showed significant time-dependent cytotoxicity. Conclusions Commercial TA suspension was cytotoxic to cultured rabbit CECs because of the preservative, BA, in the vehicle. Because 1/10 –vTA appeared to be safe for up to 30 minutes of exposure, use of 1/10 dilutions of vehicle-removed TA is suggested to help surgeons visualize prolapsed vitreous during anterior vitrectomy in complicated cataract surgeries.

Purpose: To investigate the corneal endothelial cytotoxicity of commercial formulations of agents used for intracameral anesthesia in cataract and other ocular surgery. Methods: Cultured corneal endothelial cells (CECs) of New Zealand White rabbits were exposed for 1 minute to balanced salt solution (control); Xylocaine (lidocaine) 1% E (with epinephrine), 2% E, 2%, or 4%; or Marcaine (bupivacaine) 0.5% or 0.5% spinal heavy. The degree of cytotoxicity was determined by in vitro staining with trypan blue and light microscopic evaluation of cell morphology. The effect of longer exposure (up to 16 minutes) to lidocaine 1% E was also investigated. Results: CECs were not significantly damaged by 1-minute exposure to lidocaine 1% E or 2% E; however, significant cytotoxicity was seen after 1-minute exposure to lidocaine 2% or 4% or bupivacaine 0.5% or 0.5% spinal heavy. Exposure to lidocaine 1% E showed a trend toward time-dependent cytotoxicity that reached significance at 16 minutes. Conclusions: One-minute exposure to lidocaine 1% E or 2% E appears to be safe for cultured rabbit CECs, although longer exposures could cause time-dependent cytotoxicity, which should be considered in planning cataract or other ocular surgery. Because bupivacaine 0.5% and 0.5% spinal heavy cause cytotoxic effects within the first minute of contact with CECs, they should be used with great caution, if at all, in the anterior chamber of human eyes.

Purpose Paranasal sinusitis is widespread and can lead to orbital complications, blindness, and death. However, the correlation between ophthalmological findings and disease staging remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate the staging, acute ophthalmological manifestations, diagnosis, management, and outcomes of orbital complications of paranasal sinusitis during a 27-year period. Methods We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of all patients with orbital complications of paranasal sinusitis hospitalized at the National Cheng Kung University Hospital, a medical center in Taiwan during 1988–2015. Sex, age, symptoms, history, ophthalmological findings, laboratory and imaging findings, treatments, and outcomes were analyzed by staging. Results Eighty-three patients aged 9 days to 80 years had stage I (preseptal cellulitis, n = 39 patients), II (postseptal orbital cellulitis, n = 8), III (subperiosteal abscess, n = 16), IV (orbital abscess, n = 8), or V (intracranial involvement, n = 12) complications. Peak incidences occurred in patients aged 0–19 and 60–69 years. Chronic sinusitis and diabetes mellitus were common preexisting diseases. Extraocular movement limitation and proptosis predicted postseptal (stage II or more) involvement. The likelihood of elevated intraocular pressure increased with stage. Reduced visual acuity and presence of relative afferent pupillary defect indicated consideration of magnetic resonance imaging to investigate possible intracranial extension. Ipsilateral maxillary (81.7%) and ethmoidal (75.6%) sinuses were the most common sources of infection, and the most frequently implicated pathogens were coagulase-negative Staphylococcus spp. (25.3%) and Staphylococcus aureus (20.5%). All patients received intravenous antimicrobial therapy (multi-drug therapy in 88.0%), and 55.4% underwent surgery, most commonly endoscopic sinus surgery. One (1.2%) diabetic man with stage V complications died of fungal sinusitis with intracranial invasion. Five (6.0%) patients, all stage V, lost vision despite intensive treatment. The average length of hospital stay was 13.8 days (range 2–72 days), and significantly longer stays were associated with stages II–V as compared to stage I. Conclusions Orbital infection originating from paranasal sinusitis can cause vision loss and death due to intracranial extension. Acute ophthalmological findings predict staging and prognosis. Cooperative consultation between ophthalmologists, otorhinolaryngologists, and neurologists is essential. Urgent diagnostic studies and aggressive antimicrobial therapy are indicated, and surgery should be considered.

A 74-year-old man with hypertension and diabetes mellitus presented with a three-month history of intermittent orbital pain and progressive vision loss in his left eye, deteriorating to hand motions. The intraocular pressure was in the normal range at 13 mm Hg. Biomicroscopy showed prominent iris

This work presents a design guideline for free latch-up in the CMOS inverter caused by shifting time waveform for various device sizes which is demonstrated by 2D TCAD simulations. The design window for improving the CMOS latch-up is investigated by increasing distance anode to cathode of parasitic silicon-controlled-rectifier (SCR) or source to bulk of NMOS.

The service-oriented hosts in enterprises like ERP system have always encountered the crucial problem of unexpected down-time or system failure that will cause data loss and system termination. Failover is a challenge issue that it cannot be done successfully between physical hosts. Therefore this paper introduces high availability architecture to build an in-cloud Enterprise Resources Planning together with access control authentication deployed in the virtual machine cluster, which can resolve the problems mentioned above. Access control authentication has been designed in the cloud computing system to prevent the service-oriented hosts form external fraud or intrusion. As a result, the approach proposed in this paper outperforms two well-known benchmark ERP systems, in-house ECC 6.0 and in-cloud ByDesign.

This paper introduces Cloud-Mobile Computing system to realize a real-time video/voice over IP (VVoIP) applications, called Cloud-VVoIP. In addition, access control designs authentication authorization, and accounting mechanism using biometrics technology (including face recognition and fingerprint identification) that is applied to secure legal access from the outsider, giving a safer way to login into Cloud-VVoIP. After that adaptive network-based fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) together with particle swarm optimization (PSO) has been employed to tune seamless handoff properly and analyze network traffic flow over time. Finally the performance of Cloud-VVoIP is measured and discussed. Cloud-based VVoIP outperforms the traditional peer-to-peer type of VVoIP due to three benefits. According to the analysis of Cloud-VVoIP, power consumption will be estimated in web-based browsing and Android APP. In addition, through stress test to analyze the performance of Cloud-VVoIP, we found the resources allocation about CPU, memory, bandwidth and disk.

This paper introduces a private cloud with SaaS service to realize a real-time video/voice over IP (VVoIP) in cloud-mobile computing system, called Cloud-VVoIP. In order to optimize traffic flow of video/voice streaming, adaptive network-based fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) together with particle swarm optimization (PSO) has been employed to off-line tune seamless handoff and network traffic flow. Besides the performance of Cloud-VVoIP is evaluated and a comparison of this approach and the traditional peer-to-peer VVoIP. A flexible usage for users is that they do not need to know what real IP assigned for both sides to dial a phone call and web-based browsing is available. Next, smart phone with Android APP is applicable to attach Cloud-VVoIP to yield the cost-effective for users. Third, VVoIP program is mainly installed in the private cloud, rather than user devices, so that the power consuming in battery is reduced dramatically at user devices. Finally, the stress test has been performed successfully to analyze the system efficiency of Cloud-VVoIP on the resources allocation of CPU, memory, bandwidth and disk.

Some phytochemicals with the characteristics of cytotoxicity and/or antimetastasis have generated intense interest among the anticancer studies. In this study, a natural flavonoid baicalein was evaluated in bladder cancerin vitroandin vivo. Baicalein inhibits 5637 cell proliferation. It arrests cells in G1 phase at 100 μM and in S phase below 75 μM. The protein expression of cyclin B1 and cyclin D1 is reduced by baicalein. Baicalein-induced p-ERK plays a minor role in cyclin B1 reduction. Baicalein-inhibited p65NF-κB results in reduction of cell growth. Baicalein-induced pGSK(ser9) has a little effect in increasing cyclin B1/D1 expression instead. The translation inhibitor cycloheximide blocks baicalein-reduced cyclin B1, suggesting that the reduction is caused by protein synthesis inhibition. On the other hand, neither cycloheximide nor proteasome inhibitor MG132 completely blocks baicalein-reduced cyclin D1, suggesting that baicalein reduces cyclin D1 through protein synthesis inhibition and proteasomal degradation activation. In addition, baicalein also inhibits cell invasion by inhibiting MMP-2 and MMP-9 mRNA expression and activity. In mouse orthotopic bladder tumor model, baicalein slightly reduces tumor size but with some hepatic toxicity. In summary, these results demonstrate the anti-bladder-tumor properties of the natural compound baicalein which shows a slight anti-bladder-tumor effectin vivo.

A low speckle holographic projection display was proposed to calculate random phase modulation in encoding process and rotate diffusers in projection process. After decrypting with coherent light, the despeckle 3D content was successfully projected.

The authors describe an 11-year-old boy developing bilateral acute anterior uveitis, papillitis in one eye, and neuroretinitis in the other eye after an upper respiratory tract infection of influenza A virus, possibly H1N1. Steroid pulse therapy resolved these conditions. The authors recommend alertness for visual blurring and ocular inflammation after influenza A infection.

Background/Purpose: During phacoemulsification for advanced cataracts, particularly when complicated by anterior segment abnormalities, capsulorhexis is very difficult and carries a high risk of complications. This study investigated the efficacy and safety of indocyanine green (ICG)-assisted phacoemulsification in complicated or simple advanced cataracts. Methods: Thirty-two patients (35 eyes) underwent phacoemulsification for complicated advanced cataracts (group 1) or simple advanced (mature/hypermature) cataracts (group 2). Anterior segment abnormalities (corneal opacity, small pupil, or glaucoma) in group 1 complicated phacoemulsification. In both groups, 0.5% ICG was used for capsulorhexis, and subsequent procedures were performed in the same routine manner. Results: Group 1 included 15 patients (17 eyes) with a mean age of 60.0 years. Group 2 included 17 patients (18 eyes) with a mean age of 69.4 years (p＜0.05). Continuous curvilinear capsulorhexis was completed in all eyes in group 2, but radial tears occurred in four (23.5%) eyes in group 1 (p＜0.05). Phacoemulsification was performed uneventfully in all eyes in both groups. Postoperative complications (corneal edema, vitreous prolapse, posterior capsule opacity, elevated intraocular pressure) were seen in five (27.8%) eyes in group 1 and four (23.5%) eyes in group 2 (p＞0.05). None of these were attributed to the use of ICG. Visual acuity improved in all eyes in group 2, but in only 11 (64.7%) in group 1 (p＜0.01). Conclusion: ICG-assisted phacoemulsification is safe and helpful for complicated or simple advanced cataracts. Differences between the two groups in patient age, intraoperative complications, and visual outcome could be explained by differences in the cause(s) of advanced cataracts.

Purpose Subconjunctival injection of mitomycin C (MMC) before pterygium excision is a new adjunctive therapy to decrease pterygium recurrence. This study aimed to investigate the ultrastructural changes in pterygium after subconjunctival injection of MMC. Methods Four patients underwent subconjunctival injection of 0.1 mL of 0.15 mg/mL MMC 1 month before pterygium excision, and 2 patients served as controls without preoperative MMC injection. The excised specimens of pterygium were examined under transmission electron microscopy. Results Epithelial cells of the treated pterygium remained unchanged. However, stromal fibroblasts were decreased in number, were oval rather than spindle-shaped, and had shrunken cytoplasmic processes; some were degenerating or apoptotic. Collagen and elastic fibers were decreased in density, disorganized, and degenerated. Capillary endothelial cells were thickened and swollen, with narrow or obliterated lumens. Axonal swelling and demyelination were observed. Conclusions Subconjunctival injection of MMC inhibits fibrovascular activity in the pterygial stroma, leading to degeneration of the extracellular matrix and nerve axons. These ultrastructural changes are consistent with the clinical observation of reduced vascularity in the pterygium after MMC injection and verify the effectiveness of subconjunctival MMC injection 1 month before pterygium excision in decreasing the risk of pterygium recurrence.

Purpose: To investigate major pediatric ocular trauma in Taiwan. Methods: Retrospective review of medical records of all patients 15 years and younger who were hospitalized with a primary diagnosis of eye injury at National Cheng Kung University Hospital, Taiwan, between June 1988 and May 2006. Results: There were 156 children (156 eyes) 1.1 to 15.0 years (mean ± standard deviation, 7.1 ± 0.3 years; boy: girl ratio: 2.1:1). Objects most often causing penetrating injury were scissors (13.5%), pencils/pens (12.2%), broken eyeglasses/spectacles (7.7%), and knives (6.4%). Most blunt trauma occurred in traffic accidents (5.8%). Most injuries occurred at home, followed by on the street, at school, and at sports venues. Injuries were classified as open globe (71.2%), adnexal only (18.6%), or closed globe (10.3%), and included corneal laceration (40.4%), lens damage (27.6%), hyphema (25.6%), and eyelid laceration (23.7%). Most surgical procedures were primary repair (88.5%) or removal of a damaged lens (22.4%). Additional surgery was performed in 19.9% of cases. After treatment, 56.4% of eyes had corneal opacity/scar and 7.1% became phthitic; 52.6% had good visual outcome, whereas 23.1% had poor final vision. Compared with visual acuity measured on admission, final visual acuity was improved in 76.1%, unchanged in 19.7%, and worse in 4.3%. Predictors of worse outcome were open-globe injury and larger wound size, posterior segment involvement, and presence of an intraocular foreign body. Conclusions: Most of the children hospitalized for major ocular trauma are younger boys with penetrating injuries suffered at home. Most injuries could have been prevented by increased awareness and reduction of risk factors, and the authors urge better public education for improved safety. [J Pediatr Ophthalmol Strabismus 2010;47:88–95.]

PURPOSE To study the acute ocular/cutaneous manifestations, causes, and management of the erythema multiforme (EM)/Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS)/toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN) disease spectrum. METHODS We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of all EM/SJS/TEN patients hospitalized at National Cheng Kung University Hospital in Taiwan between 1988 and 2004. Demographic data, medical/medication histories, ocular/mucocutaneous manifestations, management, sequelae, and recurrence were analyzed. RESULTS A total of 207 patients 2 months to 95 years of age were hospitalized with 213 episodes/attacks of EM/SJS/TEN. Medications were the most common cause of any condition: for SJS, carbamazepine was most common; for EM or TEN, allopurinol was most common. In 128 of the 213 attacks (60.1%; 126 patients), ocular manifestations were documented during hospitalization, occurring more often in those with SJS (81.3%) or TEN (66.7%) compared with those with EM (22.7%; P < 0.01). The most frequent ocular treatments were topical steroids, topical antibiotics, and lubricants. Overall, 24 (18.8%) of 128 acute attacks in 126 patients were followed by ocular sequelae, mostly dry eye. Five (2.4%) of the 207 patients sustained a total of 6 recurrent attacks, in 3 cases because of the same medication. CONCLUSIONS Ocular manifestations occur in a high proportion of patients with EM/SJS/TEN. The most frequent causes were carbamazepine and allopurinol. A careful medication history should be obtained from these patients. Ophthalmic consultation, evaluation, and management are mandatory.

A 64-year-old man had late-onset socket infection due to retained surgical gauze after evisceration. External examination showed a mass of retained surgical gauze with copious yellowish discharge and gas bubbles. Computed tomography scans showed a 3.2 X 2.4 X 2.4-cm heterogeneous mass and numerous gas bubbles. Culture of the discharge yielded Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Streptococcus viridans, Peptostreptococcus species, and Fusobacterium species. Surgical debridement and antibiotic therapy achieved a rapid resolution. Retained gauze after evisceration may lead to socket infection, and such a complication should be avoided. [Ophthalmic Surg Lasers Imaging 2004;35:503-506.]

Purpose To investigate the efficacy of various dyes for anterior capsule staining to facilitate capsulorhexis during cataract surgery. Setting Department of Ophthalmology and Institute of Clinical Medicine, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan. Methods Various concentrations of indocyanine green (ICG), methylene blue (MB), gentian violet (GV), trypan blue (TB), and fluorescein sodium (FS) were used to stain rabbit lenses in vitro. After 1 minute of exposure, the staining of each lens was evaluated using a semiquantitative scoring system in which 0 represented no staining/no contrast between the capsule and cortex and 4 represented excellent staining/remarkable contrast between the stained capsule and unstained cortex. The lowest concentration of dye with a score of 4 was considered the lowest effective concentration for capsulorhexis. Results Based on our scoring system, the lowest effective concentrations for capsulorhexis were ICG 0.25%, MB 0.10%, GV 0.01%, TB 0.10%, and FS 1.25%. The lowest effective concentrations of the 5 dyes provided comparable contrast. Increased concentrations of dye decreased contrast between the capsule and the cortex and were considered less effective for capsulorhexis. Conclusion Any of the following concentrations of dyes can be used for optimal enhancement of anterior capsule visibility for capsulorhexis: ICG 0.25%, MB 0.10%, GV 0.01%, TB 0.10%, and FS 1.25%.

Purpose To investigate the toxic effects of triamcinolone acetonide (TA) suspensions on human retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells. Methods Cultured human RPE cells were exposed for up to 2 hours to one of seven solutions: control (balanced salt solution, BSS; Alcon Laboratories, Ft. Worth TX), commercial TA suspension (cTA), cTA from which the vehicle (which contains the preservative benzyl alcohol) had been removed (vehicle-removed TA, -vTA), vehicle of the cTA (V), or a 1:10 dilution (in BSS; Alcon) of cTA, -vTA or V. Solution effects were evaluated by phase-contrast microscopy of cells stained in situ with trypan blue and in vitro by trypan blue exclusion assay. RPE cell function was assessed by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. The mechanism of TA toxicity was studied by acridine orange-ethidium bromide staining and epifluorescence microscopy, and ultrastructural changes were examined by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Results The effects of vehicle-removed solutions (-vTA and 1:10 -vTA) were similar to those of the control solution. Exposure for 1 hour or longer to a vehicle-containing solution (cTA and V) resulted in similar and significant degrees of cell damage that were dose and time dependent. The major mechanism of cell death was necrosis, and the early ultrastructural change was swelling of organelles in the cytoplasm. Conclusions Preserved commercial TA suspensions damaged human RPE cells, but vehicle-free solutions did not. The authors suggest removing the vehicle as completely as possible from TA solutions before they are administered intravitreally. Furthermore, they recommend that a commercial formulation of preservative-free TA suspension be made available for intraocular use.

Purpose To investigate the corneal endothelial cytotoxicity of dyes for capsule staining in cataract surgery. Setting Department of Ophthalmology and Institute of Clinical Medicine, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan. Methods Cultured corneal endothelial cells of New Zealand white rabbits were exposed for 1 minute to 1 of the following dyes (various concentrations): indocyanine green (ICG), methylene blue (MB), gentian violet (GV), trypan blue (TB), and fluorescein sodium (FS). The degree of cell damage was determined by in vitro staining with TB and comparison with results in a control group. The effect of longer exposure (up to 10 minutes) to ICG 0.25% was also investigated. Structural changes in corneal endothelial cells after dye exposure were evaluated by light microscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Results Indocyanine green 0.25%, MB 0.20%, GV 0.01%, TB 0.40%, and FS 10% did not induce significant damage to corneal endothelial cells. Significant cytotoxicity was observed with the following or higher dye concentrations: ICG 0.50%, MB 0.50%, and GV 0.10%. Exposure to ICG 0.25% for 1 to 10 minutes showed a trend toward cytotoxicity after 10 minutes. On TEM, corneal endothelial cells that had been exposed to ICG 0.50% showed remarkable organelle swelling and disruption, electron-dense granules, and cell lysis. Conclusion One minute of exposure to ICG 0.25%, MB 0.20%, GV 0.01%, TB 0.40%, and FS 10% appeared to be safe as determined by no cytotoxic effects on rabbit corneal endothelial cells in culture.

The service-oriented hosts in enterprises like enterprise resources planning (ERP) system have always encountered the crucial problem of unexpected down-time or system failure that will cause data loss and system termination. Failover is a challenge issue that cannot be done successfully between physical hosts. Traditional information security using demilitarized zone approach costs a lot. Therefore, this paper introduces in-cloud enterprise resources planning (in-cloud ERP) deployed in the virtual machine cluster together with access control authentication and network security which can resolve the three problems mentioned above. Access control authentication and network security have been implemented in the cloud computing system to prevent the service-oriented hosts form external fraud, intrusion, or malicious attacks. As a result of the experiments the number of accessing in-cloud ERP is 5.2 times as many as in-house ERP. The total expenditure of in-cloud ERP has decreased significantly to 48.4 % the cost of in-house ERP. In terms of operational speed, the approach proposed in this paper outperforms two well-known benchmark ERP systems, in-house ECC 6.0 and in-cloud ByDesign.